Confessions of a Writer
Okay. I admit it.
As a full-time-stay-at-home writer and my own boss, it’s often a bit of a challenge to stick to a schedule and maintain some discipline, considering that the only one keeping me in line and making me accountable is myself.
No one’s holding me to a deadline.
No one’s giving me performance reviews.
No one’s looking over my shoulder.
Unless you count the mannequin in sunglasses, Hawaiian shirt, and Peter Grimm hat standing over my left shoulder, six feet away.
(But that’s another story.)
Self-motivation is something every writer struggles with at one time or another. And with all of the distractions we have today (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), it’s hard to believe that anyone ever gets anything written.
Which is why you’ll often see me post to Facebook or Twitter early in the day and then disappear. I can’t stay logged in and connected all day long. If I don’t unplug, I’ll never meet my own self-imposed deadlines. Which, admittedly, are written in pencil and chalk more often than in permanent marker.
On the flip side, because I’m my own boss, I’ll often work until 10:00 or 11:00PM. So even though I might get distracted and go out for a couple of hours in the middle of the day to meet a friend for lunch or catch a matinee at the movie theater or take a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, I’ll more often than not log ten hours of work per day.
Granted, not all of that time is spent writing. I rarely write for more than 4-6 hours a day. My brain burns out. I’m not interested in getting words down just for the sake of getting words down. I’m interested in making the words count more than I am in reaching a word count.
But when you throw in time spent on Facebook and Twitter, along with answering e-mails and following up on e-mails, updating my website, and writing the occasional blog, interview, or guest post, the hours eventually add up.
Fortunately, I enjoy what I do. All of it. Okay, most of it. Sometimes I feel like I spend too much time in front of my computer and not enough time interacting with human beings. Another confession. I’m full of them today.
Maybe it’s because I’m tired. Or rambling. Or trying to figure out how to wrap up this post. Whatever it is, I better get back to work because the mannequin is starting to make me nervous.
